Khanty Rd6: Mistakes in Marathon Round

5/20/2015 – Today was a long day over the board in Khanty-Mansiysk. Three games last more than six hours, and at the end of an exhausting day many mistakes were made. Grischuk was losing, managed to find a draw against Caruana but blundered in the end and lost. Giri did basically the same against Svidler. Meanwhile, Dominguez let go of Gelfand, and falls back to fourth place.

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The fourth and final stage of the 2014-2015 Grand Prix Series. This tournament is specially important as it will determine the winner and runner up of this year, both of which will automatically qualify for the 2015 Candidates Tournament - the winner of that will challenge Magnus Carlsen to the World Championship Match! The tournament is taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Ugra, Russia from May 13 to May 27.

Round Six

Round 06 – May 20 2015, 15:00h

Gelfand, Boris

2744

½-½

Dominguez, Leinier

2734

Svidler, Peter

2734

1-0

Giri, Anish

2776

Tomashevsky, Evgeny

2749

½-½

Nakamura, Hikaru

2799

Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime

2754

0-1

Karjakin, Sergey

2753

Jobava, Baadur

2699

½-½

Jakovenko, Dmitry

2738

Grischuk, Alexander

2780

0-1

Caruana, Fabiano

2803

The players arriving

and it's time for action

Gelfand, Boris ½-½ Dominguez, Leinier
Gelfand dodged a bullet today!

Dominguez couldn't believe Gelfand escaped. And that Grischuk almost did!

Svidler, Peter 1-0 Giri, Anish
Svidler's opening experiment paid off rather well. His strategic advantage was strong and relatively permanent. He managed to botch it up a little, and gave Giri excellent losing chances. However the Dutch player was unable to hold the endgame and ended up losing.

Karjakin and Svidler are now the only ones tied for second place

"This is my worst game ever, and it would be a little weird if I drew it, so I lost" - Anish Giri

Tomashevsky, Evgeny ½-½ Nakamura, Hikaru
A Catalan that promises White a tiny advantage in an opposite colored bishop endgame with heavy pieces. Nakamura was able to defend his position easily and was never in any real danger.

[Event "KM FIDE GP 2015"] [Site "Khanty-Mansiysk RUS"] [Date "2015.05.20"] [Round "6"] [White "Vachier Lagrave, M."] [Black "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C65"] [WhiteElo "2754"] [BlackElo "2753"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "2015.05.13"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 {This is the move everyone is turning to in order to avoid the Berlin, but how successful it is, well, it's hard to say. } Bc5 {Not the only move to equalize, probably, but definitely the most popular at the moment.} 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d6 {The game resembles the Italian Opening a little bit, but with the bishop on b5 there are a couple of subtle differences, but it is not much.} 7. Nbd2 Ne7 {re-routing the knight to g6 is most standard in these structures. It wants to go to f4!} 8. d4 exd4 9. cxd4 Bb6 10. Re1 Bg4 {Black has some counterplay against the pawn on d4. Interestingly enough, this position has also been seen in the Italian Game..} 11. h3 Bh5 12. a3 {Despite White's nice center, it is uncomfortable to do anything with it. The pawns cannot advance and they are both under attack at the moment.} (12. Nb3 d5 13. e5 Ne4 {seems rather good for Black, with plenty of pressure on d4 and a nice knight on e4.}) 12... a6 13. Bf1 Re8 14. e5 Nfd5 { The normal reaction to e5, though there is an argument to be made for taking on e5 first.} 15. Nc4 Ba7 16. g4 Bg6 17. Bg5 {White's play is very forward, but the more he pushes his pawns the weaker his position becomes: he has to be pretty careful now.} dxe5 18. dxe5 (18. Ncxe5 {playing with the isolated pawn isn't usually fun, but perhaps there was no good choice. After for example} f6 19. Nxg6 Nxg6 20. Rxe8+ Qxe8 21. Qb3 $1 c6 22. Bd2 (22. Qxb7 fxg5 {doesn't work since everything is defended.}) 22... Qd7 {chances would be about even. The pair of bishops and potential pressure on d5 make up for the isolated pawn. }) 18... h6 19. Bh4 b5 $1 20. Na5 Qc8 {White's position feels a little discoordinated. Black has a lot of weaknesses to latch on to, like f4, e5 and f2, while White's plan is not as clear.} 21. Rc1 $6 (21. Nc6 $1 Nxc6 22. Qxd5 $13 {was important, traidng an important knight on d5 for an awkward one on a5. }) 21... c5 22. b4 $6 c4 {Now it is very obvious that Black is better. He has the passed pawn on c4 and his piece activity is good.} 23. Nd4 (23. Nd2 {is the computer suggestion, trying to sacrifice a piece on c4. Black must be better if that is White's only plan.}) 23... Qc7 24. Nab3 Rad8 25. Qf3 {Losing a pawn, but there was already nothing better.} Nxb4 26. axb4 Bxd4 27. Nxd4 Rxd4 28. e6 f6 $19 {The pair of bishops aren't participating in this game very well. Black's up a pawn, has the better position and is just winning.} 29. Rcd1 Rxd1 30. Rxd1 c3 31. Bg3 Qc6 32. Qe2 c2 33. Rc1 Qc3 34. Bg2 Qxb4 35. Kh2 Rd8 36. Qf3 Qc4 37. Qb7 Qxe6 38. f4 Qe3 0-1

Jobava, Baadur ½-½ Jakovenko, Dmitry
1.b3 lead to a black advantage this time around, though Jakovenko did not make the most of it. Jobava kept the game complicated and at some point it even seemed that White might take over the initiative. However the Russian stopped it on its tracks just on time and salvaged half a point.

Jakovenko had to show his 1.b3 prep today

Grischuk, Alexander 0-1 Caruana, Fabiano
Grischuk's opening experiment can only be categorized as a rotund failure. Black seized the initiative from early on, in the endgame his pair of bishops and potential to attack the a-pawn gave him a nearly winning position. Caruana's technique was not the best, but eventually he got the following winning position, which was decided in mutual time trouble... twice! The time control after move 60 was very short and soon the players found themselves with only seconds left again.

Alejandro RamirezGrandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

See also

11/28/2018 – The moment we've all been waiting for! Live games (for Premium members) from the 2018 World Championship match in London. Every two games will be followed by a rest day until Game 12 (if necessary) on November 26th which will be preceded by an additional rest day. All rounds start at 15:00 UT (London time) / 16:00 CEST / 10:00 EST. If needed there would be a rapid tiebreak match on Wednesday, November 28th. | Photos: Patricia Claros

See also

8/27/2018 – Live games and commentary from Saint Louis! Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian tied for first place, while Caruana also tied for fourth place in the Grand Chess Tour standings with Wesley So, forcing a playoff match to be held on Tuesday. | Graphic: Saint Louis Chess Club

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